Arm rest cover



Oct. 25, 1955 D. J. GRIFFITHS EFAL 2,721,605

ARM REST COVER Filed May 18, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Ill/11111111,,

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United States Patent 2,721,605 ARM REST COVER David J. Grifiiths and Isaac L. Sorenson, Salt Lake City, Utah Application May 18, 1953, Serial No. 355,708

1 Claim. (Cl. 155182) This invention relates generally to protective coverings for automobile arm rests and relates more particularly to an improved form of such protective coverings.

A primary object of this invention is to provide a protective covering for arm rest which incorporates a unitary construction which may be easily and rapidly applied to arm rest on various makes of automobiles.

Another object of this invention is to provide a protective arm rest cover which utilizes flexible material in its construction formed in such a manner as to embrace an arm rest when applied thereto.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a vehicle showing one form of the arm rest cover in place;

Figure 2 is a transverse vertical section through the arm rest cover shown in Figure 1, the arm rest being shown in dotted lines;

Figure 3 is a bottom plan view of the arm rest cover on an enlarged scale;

Figure 4 is a perspective view similar to Figure 1 but showing a modified form of arm rest cover;

Figure 5 is a transverse vertical section taken substantially along the plane of section line 5-5 of Figure 4 showing the cover in place on an enlarged scale;

Figure 6 is a transverse vertical section taken substantially along the plane of section line 6-6 of Figure 4, showing details of the end construction of the cover; and

Figure 7 is a bottom plan view of the cover shown in Figure 4.

Referring now more particularly to Figures 1-3, reference character 10 indicates generally the inside door panel of a vehicle to which is secured an arm rest 12 of conventional construction including a hand well 14 for allowing the rest to serve as a support for a persons arm The protective cover as embodied in these figures of the drawings includes a generally U-shaped top portion 16 provided along its inner sides with 2 depending flange 18, the flange engaging against the upper surface of the hand well recess. The front wall 20 depends from the outer side of the top and includes side wall portions 22 coextensive therewith and depending from the outer sides of the bight portions of the top 16. The front wall portion 20 is provided with an inwardly curved and directed lip 24 which underlies a corresponding portion of the arm rest and whose upper surface is provided with a plurality of pointed projections 26 for engaging against the material forming the arm rest. In this manner, the cover partially embraces around the arm rest and incorporation with the projections 26 serve to maintain the cover in place. Due to the fact that the cover is formed of a single piece of plastic material, it will be somewhat flexible in nature and may be distorted during installation to v be rapidly and easily assembled on the arm rest, the requite closely to the shape of the arm rest to which it is secured and in this respect it will be noted that the inwardly directed lips 28 forming extension of the side Wall portions 22 taper in converging relation towards the free ends of the assembly. This serves also to allow rapid and easy assembly of the cover the arm rest inasmuch as relatively little distortion will be required to initially engage the cover on the arm rest due to this particular lip formation.

Referring now more particularly to Figures 4-7, wherein a modified form of construction is shown, reference character 30 indicates generally the inner door panel which is provided with a horizontal chrome strip 32 on some makes of automobiles. The chrome strip is secured in the usual manner by engagement over a retainer strip 34 riveted or otherwise suitably secured to the door panel, the inturned opposite end portions 36 of the strip being engaged over such strip. In similar manner to the previously described cover, this particular type of cover is provided with a substantially U-shaped top portion 38 provided with a continuously curving front wall 40 and a depending flange and bottom wall 42 and 44 presenting a depressed portion on the inner side of the U-shaped top in register and engagement with the hand well portion of the arm rest 46. This particular cover is of longer dimension than the arm rest which it covers and is provided at its rear end 48 with a reversely bent extension 50 having a vertically projecting ear 52 received beneath the chrome strip 32. By providing the cover longer than the arm rest, a greater area of support for a users arm is provided, presenting a more luxurious appearance for the interior of the automobile. The material beneath the chrome strip is sufliciently soft to compress so that the ear can be readily disposed beneath the chrome strip while at the same time the material of padding is sufiiciently resilient to frictionally engage the ear against'the chrome strip.

The lower portion of the front wall 40 is provided with an inwardly directed lower flange 56 which underlies and projects below the arm rest to cooperate with the flange 42 and bottom 44 as well as the ear 52 in serving to maintain the cover in properly assembled relation with respect to the arm rest.

From the foregoing, the construction and operation of the device will be readily understood and further explanation is believed to be unnecessary. However, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

An arm rest cover comprising a preformed one piece member of resilient material adapted to be removably mounted on the arm rest by flexing said resilient member thereover, said member including a horizontal U-shaped top wall overlying the top of the arm rest, a U-shaped depending flange on the inner edge of said top wall for positioning in the hand well recess in the arm rest, a U-shaped front wall depending from said top wall, said front wall having a bight portion overlying the front of the arm rest and leg portions overlying the ends of the arm rest, an inwardly extending lip on the lower edge of the bight portion of the front wall for underlying a portion of the arm rest in opposition to the top wall of said member, a plurality of upwardly extending pointed projections on said lip for engaging the undersurface of the 3 arm rest adjacent the front thereof for retaining the member thereon, an inwardly extending lip on the lower edge of each leg portion of the front Wall for underlying the end portions of the arm rest thereby retaining the cover on the arm rest.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS West Feb. 3, 1920 Johnstone Jan. 25, 1927 

